((PKG))  FLY FISHING   
((TRT:  05:27)) 
((Banner:  Fly Fishing))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Jeff Swicord)) 
((Map:  Washington, DC))    
((Main character: 1 male))  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
My first memory of fishing was bobber, worm, don’t remember the type of rod, but I foul hooked a catfish in the back.? We didn’t know how to take the hook out.  It was probably barbed.? So, a guy that looked like Santa Claus came down and unhooked it and threw it back in.  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
I finished college and I turned in my last final in Botany and I went straight to the sporting goods store and got my license and my first pair of polarized glasses and I went down to the river.? And I was done.  It was the end of a huge chapter in my life and I was going to figure out what to do now.? And on my first cast, I catch a striped bass about that big.? And that was about as life-changing as having a kid.? My life from that moment on completely changed.  It wasn’t, I wanted to be a botanist in the rainforests in South America.  It was, I needed to get into fishing.  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
I started guiding professionally right after college.? But it wasn’t until ten years ago that I hung up my suit and tie to do this full-time.? Along the shores here it’s all pickerelweed, which is the purple flower also known as tuckahoe to the Natives that lived here.? The big plumes are wild rice and then the large leaves with the fibrous stocks are spatterdock.? You hook that stuff, it will break your rod.  
((NATS: 
Rob Snowhite:  Oh, oh, no he turned.)) 
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
What we are looking for, root balls, depressions, anything where those fish can hide from all those birds up above.  So, the benefits of fly fishing versus tackle conventional is, let’s say I’m casting and there is a fish and it bites and I miss the hook set.? Well, I just throw my line back, throw it again.? I don’t have to reel that whole line in.  
((NATS: 
Rob Snowhite:  Another large mouth.))   
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
I can throw things that are more lifelike and put it in a fish’s site of view more efficiently than you can with a lure.??  
((NATS))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
I’m going to smash that barb down again.  It is getting a little caught.? Nice little three-year-old large mouth.? Sometimes they will have crayfish and other fish sticking out of their throats.? They’ll still eat when they are full.? It’s instinct.  You can’t pass up a meal.? Got a nice full belly on it. 
((MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
Everybody that is being stuck at home with their kids and families, there is a bigger need and want for guides to get people out of the house.  I wake up more sore than I did a couple of years ago.  It’s harder to climb in the boat.??  
((NATS: 
Rob Snowhite:  Big turn.))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
But it’s still, still rewarding.  And I still want to do it.  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
Being able to tie your own fly and catch a fish on that is extremely rewarding.? I tell people if you can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or tie your shoes, you can tie a fly.? It is not that difficult.  
((NATS: 
Rob Snowhite:   My vise.? Material prep station.))
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
I only fish my own flies.? Using someone else’s fly, I’d say, is like using your toothbrush.? I just don’t want to do it.  It’s gross.  
((NATS))
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))  
So, you take red thread, six aught.? Little base there.? Cut that off.  And then this is just bead chain.? And then crisscross.? This is ostrich plume.? Five, five wraps forward.? One, two, three, four, five.? And that is a Snowhite Damsel.? And looks like that when it is wet. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Rob Snowhite, Fly Fishing Consultant))   
The Tidal Basin may be one of the most unique spots you are ever going to fish.? It’s like a giant nursery for small fish that come in here, hang out and live, but there are big fish in here.  You might hook something that is 30 or 40 pounds [14 to 18 kg] in front of Martin Luther King or Jefferson.?  
My plan at the beginning was to only guide for a couple of years and then get some other kind of job.??  
Even after a super frustrating day, I don’t really want to go back to an office job.? Fly fishing is a lifestyle.? Some people say it is a sport, it’s an art.? It’s definitely a way of life. 
((NATS))